The Mysterious Compass
by mlouden03
Summary: After a shipwreck, a strange creature named only Compass by its captors escapes and tries to find a new life on an island. Oneshot! Please R/R!


The first sound the creature heard on that fateful day was a loud crash. It awoke from his nightly slumber, and soon after came the calls of men from all around as they, too, awoke in their own cabins below deck to investigate the matter. The creature was unable to ascertain much of what was happening due to his prone position in a large wooden cage, but he could feel the boat slowly moving downward-as if a hole had sprung in the wooden framework. His captors tried to man the mast in an attempt to catch wind and turn the ship away from whatever they struck, but their attempts were apparently fruitless given their vulgar expressions. After several minutes of crewmembers yelling below deck and relaying efforts to patch the hull, the creature heard the captain sound a call to abandon ship. Small wooden boats could be heard as they were lowered from the side of the ship. The crew heeded the captain's order, but the creature was left in its cage, apparently deemed unessential and not worth saving. The last thing the creature heard was another loud crash, before he began to lose consciousness and fell into the deep black of the ocean.

The creature, a thing which his captors would often refer to only as "Compass", started to have its life flash before its eyes as it slowly succumbed to the depths of the ocean. Compass barely remembered any aspect of his life before he arrived on the large sailing ship. One of the only early memories he had involved him being dragged along the ground of a sandy shore until he was hauled on a winch-like contraption onto a large sailing ship, albeit a different one than he had been on. From then on, the crew of the ship would use his impeccable sense of direction to calculate their position amongst the ocean. Compass eventually was sold from the ship which captured him to another, larger vessel; one that seemingly was setting out on a grand expedition given the amount of provisions were being brought aboard for the crew. Most of the time, Compass had to scrounge around for food, using his magnetic powers to attract small bits of food or the occasional small rat that had stowed away on board, as his captors never fed him much beyond tiny morsels of leftovers a few days a week.

When the creature regained consciousness, it found itself on a small beach as large waves were crashing upon the beach. There was an outcropping of trees directly in front of Compass, and from the density and height of the foliage the surrounding area seemed completely untouched by human hands. 'I wonder where I am,' the blue-colored creature thought as he examined his surroundings to the best of his ability. 'The last thing I remember is being thrown into the water from the boat, and now suddenly I'm here on this beach.'

Compass was able to see the world around him using large black eyes, however its eyes always appeared to be closed. It used a pair of large holes on the sides of its head as ears to listen to the world around it. The creature was also able to able to use a large red-ish nose on its face to smell its surroundings, and the strong electromagnetic properties of the nose caused Compass to permanently face north. Because of this, Compass was unable to turn its body at all, being forever locked in one direction. The creature was able to move its body slowly, hobbling one leg after the other in a forward direction. It could also use the magnetic properties within its body to lift itself into the air and seem to float around, but doing so expended a vast amount of energy.

The creature slowly moved itself forward using its legs, traversing the sandy beach and heading towards the fauna. Compass noticed that the beach was strewn with various seashells and bits of kelp near the the tide-line. 'I have to find some sort of edible fruit or plants,' the creature thought as he continued his trek inward. 'I haven't eaten in several days already and if the weeds are anything like what the crew tried to serve me before then I know I can't eat them.'

As he crossed the transition from the beach to the jungle-like area, Compass spotted a bright-red berry that was hanging from a small tree several feet to the left of the creature. 'That looks succulent,' it thought, and it focused its energy into producing a small bolt of electricity that struck the branch. The effort knocked the branch onto the ground and moved the fruit within easy reach of the blue creature. Compass could use various abilities to defend itself as needed, but the creature had learned quickly that any attempt to fight back or to escape from humans brought about pain that was too intense to be describable. A single tear fell from Compass's black eye as he remembered the beatings he suffered by his human captors. 'I wish I could have escaped,' he thought, 'I don't even remember where I come from but I know I wasn't meant to spend my life as a tool for humans. At least I'm seemingly alone on this island, so no one can hurt me ever again.' At was at this thought that Compass heard a loud cawing sound coming towards him from the center of the island. 'Well, I may not be alone after all,' he continued, 'but at least it doesn't sound human.'

The creature used his powers to move the fruit in front of its body and slowly consumed it using a small mouth that was normally hidden underneath its nose. After the meal, the creature continued inward. 'I hope I can figure out what made that sound from earlier,' it thought as it trudged onward, 'it may prove to be a friendly creature. I can't remember the last time, or any time for that matter, when I actually had a friend.' As Compass continued forward, it heard the cawing sound again, and this time the sound seemed to be closer than before. 'I might as well try to get the attention of whatever's making the noise,' he thought, as he began to speak. "Whatever you are, come out from wherever you're hiding. My name is Compass and I just want to be your friend." Although the creature hoped its outreach would garner a response, he knew it was a possibility that its attempt would end in failure. 'If I don't get a response, I can only hope to keep moving forward and see if I can find anything of use. A source of drinkable water would be preferable at this point,' it though.

Compass then heard another loud call similar to the ones that it had heard twice before, and this time the sound was accompanied by the sound of flapping wings. The creature looked up and could see a small object moving from under the canopy of the layer of trees. As the object moved closer, the creature was able to tell more about the incoming object. It looked like some sort of flying creature with two long white wings with a blue stripe on each. It also had an elongated orange beak with black at the end, and the top of its beak hooked downward around the bottom. There were two black vertical slits for eyes, and white nubs above its eyes that appeared to be ears. At the bottom of its body there was a pair of orange feet, and at its back there were three tail feathers that were white with a blue tip. As the flying creature neared Compass, it began to speak.

"Hello strange traveler," the bird began, "my name is Wendell and I'm an inhabitant of this island. I've made it my business to know every creature here both big and small, and I daresay that I don't know you at all. I heard a voice cry out earlier, was that you? You said your name was Compass, right? How did you end up on this island?"

'Finally,' Compass thought as Wendell flew down and spoke, 'someone else lives on this island. Maybe he can help me.' The creature continued to watch as Wendell landed in front of Compass' large body, and he began to speak to the bird-like creature. "Yes, I did call out before. My name is Compass as I said before, and I'm lost on this island. I was held captive on a boat for so long I cannot even remember how long it was, but the boat crashed while at sea. When I awoke, I found myself down at the beach and tried to find some form of shelter and food or water. I've been successful so far on the food, but water and shelter still elude me. Do you by chance know any source of clean water? A pond perhaps or something?" 'I need to make friends with this creature if I'm to survive,' Compass thought, 'otherwise I will surely die if I keep searching on my own.'

Wendell nodded his head and looked to the right and started to reply. "There is a small spring to the West of here, it would take you no more than an hour to reach. For me I could probably get there in ten minutes and could bring some water back to you as you made the trek yourself. Although my small beak cannot hold much, I'm sure that I could carry enough to replenish your energy and sustain you for the journey. Normally I can just create water using my natural abilities, but the water I create isn't suitable for consumption by living creatures." The flying creature began to flap its wings and head off towards the direction of the spring, leaving Compass on his own to follow slowly behind.

'I wish I had enough power to lift myself and fly along with Wendell,' the creature thought, 'unfortunately I've used too much of my energy already trying to get that food earlier and I don't want to use too much and not be able to finish the trip to the spring.' The creature continued to hobble in a West-ward direction while still facing North, creating an odd sight of Compass shuffling sideways for any creatures that happened to be looking on. In approximately twenty minutes Compass heard the sound of a bird overhead, causing the creature to look up and see Wendell swooping down towards him. The bird opened its mouth and slowly poured a cup's worth of water onto Compass's body, which the magnetic creature was able to direct towards its mouth using a limited amount of its natural power.

"Thanks Wendell," Compass yelled in gratitude as he watched the creature fly into the air with a flap of its wings. "If I'm not there when you get back to the spring, can you try to make another trip back in this direction in case I need help?" The creature hoped that his new friend would continue to give him water as he entered the second half of his journey to the spring. Wendell nodded and took flight once again, heading back in the direction of the spring.

Compass continued heading towards the spring, and after another twenty minutes Wendell returned, repeating the water-giving exercise that the two had done prior. Soon after the second water exchange, Compass could hear running water and found itself by a small stream of running water. The creature could not see from where the water originated, but as he approached he could take note of several other creatures drinking from the stream, including a four-legged brown creature with bushes on its head and a small blue-green creature with a green bulb growing on its back. 'Normally I'd try to make friends with these new creatures,' Compass thought, 'but at this point I'm just so thirsty.' As he moved to drink water, he heard the now-familiar caw of his friend Wendell, causing the magnetic creature to look up and see the bird sitting on a low hanging branch. "Thank you for leading me here," Compass began in between sips of water from the stream, "I don't know what I'd have done without you."

Wendell nodded and looked towards Compass. "You're more than welcome, Compass. Would you mind telling me anything else you could remember about how you came here? You mentioned being from a ship or something."

Compass thought for a moment and slowly replied. "Not much else comes to mind, Wendell. I was held prisoner on that ship for months if not longer and was barely given anything to eat. Before that I was on another ship. I can barely remember anything from before being captured. I don't even know if there are others like me out in the world." A single tear fell from the creature's eyes as he pondered his isolation that he suffered from his captors. His new friend picked up on Compass' sadness and moved closer to console the creature.

"Don't worry Compass," the bird-creature replied, "you're free of those people now, and you're sure to make a lot of friends on this island. Starting tomorrow we can go around and I can introduce you to the other inhabitants, the two who were drinking downstream are both just as nice as me, and I'm sure you'd all be fast friends. You can stay here as long as you like and live with us in peace." Compass smiled at his friend's reassurance and calmed down.

After replenishing itself with water, Compass was led by Wendell to a small outcropping of rocks near the stream. The rocks seemed to be the start of a large hill that the creature thought it could explore one day. 'I wonder how high that hill leads,' the magnetic creature thought as it settled in under the overhanging rocks.' Wendell explained to Compass that the outcropping was currently not being used by any other creature on the island, and that the creature could use it as shelter as long as he wanted to. "Thank you very much," Compass yelled as his friend began to take off to reach its home in a nearby tree. The creature laid against the rock-face and played with the dirt of his new home, trying to think of ways he could improve the area. 'I really think I'm going to like it here,' he thought, before drifting off to sleep.

Compass' sleep was interrupted by the sound of numerous voices calling out in the darkness, and the sound of numerous creatures scurrying in the underbrush. As he began to move out from his home, Wendell flew down and started yelling as he flapped his wings quickly.

"Compass, we have more visitors on the island, and from what I've seen they don't seem to be friendly. They've been making their way up the beach scaring any creature that they can find, and I've even heard that some of my friends are being captured by the invaders. Some have even tried to fight back, but the invaders have creatures of their own! We need to try and gather together and mount some sort of offensive to drive them back where they came from."

The magnetic creature quickly thought about the situation that was being described and felt a large pit in his stomach. "I think I know why they are here," Compass began, "they may be from the same people that took me. They may be trying to claim this island as theirs or just be trying to capture us to add to their ranks. I don't know what we can do to stop them." He slowly hobbled out of his home and started to move in the direction of the beach. "We need to head them off before they maintain any foothold here," he called to his flying friend, "if they develop a base on the beach we're finished. Gather everyone you can and meet me on the beach. We'll either stop them there or be doomed."

Wendell nodded and flew off, and Compass heard him sound rallying cries every minute or so as he traversed around the dense trees of the island. The magnetic creature continued towards the beach, and as he did so various cries of creatures echoed across the night air. Compass grew worried as he neared his destination and had not yet met up with any others. 'Were they captured,' he thought to himself, 'if they were, what hope do I have?'

When he first laid eyes on the beach, he could see a dozen of those who looked similar to his captors, some with whips in hands commanding creatures and others with large cages or nets and revolvers. Compass knew that fear would not help him conquer his foes, so he pushed such feelings away as he steeled himself up to take on his enemies. After collecting his energy, he burst forth from the treeline and began to shoot electricity out towards hid opposition. His first target was a small, blue turtle-like creature that had a shell on its back. After being struck by lightning, the small turtle yelped and retaliated by launching a strong stream of water towards Compass.

The water hurt the magnetic creature greatly, but he knew that he had to continue his onslaught. After another strike of electricity the turtle creature fell to the ground, causing Compass to turn its attention towards the creature's master. The human yelled to his friends, causing two others to rush to his aid, each one of them having a slave of their own to combat Compass. The creature on Compass' right was a large, brown, round-shaped creature that seemingly had a collection of rocks for a body and arms and legs that protruded from the collection of rocks. At a command from its master, the creature pulled its appendages and head into its body and rolled along the beach towards Compass. The attack came too fast for Compass to dodge, causing the magnetic creature to scream in pain.

Compass once again tried to retaliate with a bolt of electricity against his new foe, but this time the ability seemed useless as the electricity seemed unable to pierce the creature's thick, rocky exterior. 'I don't know what to do,' Compass thought to itself as the slave Pokemon prepared for another rolling attack against the magnetic creature, 'that's one of the only things I know how to do, and if that didn't work at all, can this creature even be beaten?' His thought process was cut short as the slave creature rammed its body into Compass again, causing the defending creature's body to bruise greatly.

Suddenly, Compass heard a string of noises and cries coming from the jungle portion of the island. Weak and nearly unconscious, the magnetic creature was unable to move, but he saw Wendell fly overhead and shoot water towards the rock creature, which seemed to damage the creature greatly. Compass smiled as he tried to right himself. 'We may have a chance after all,' he thought as he saw other island inhabitants fight against the approaching humans, however Compass' prediction would soon prove to be in error.

Several more teams of humans approached the battle from further down the beach, each team consisting of a dozen members and each human having a slave of their own. The magnetic creature watched in horror as the slave-owners slowly overpowered the island creature's and rendered them all bloody, unconscious, or worse. As Compass' vision began to blur, he could see Wendell laying face-down in the dirt, a large hole present in his right wing. 'Oh no,' Compass thought, 'it's happening all over again, I'm going to be captured as well as everyone else here.' He then passed out as a team of four humans approached the magnetic creature and prepared a sled-like device to carry him.

"So Fred," one human said to another as he prepared to haul Compass onto a transport boat, "I'd say this is another successful capture for the Glostian Navy, right? At least a dozen specimens captured and only a few native fatalities. I'm sure we can sell most of these guys off and we can all live well for several months at least."

"You're right, George," the other human replied, "this may be the most profitable raid we've done in a while." The pair of humans then loaded Compass onto a boat and began to paddle back towards their sailing ship, contemplating what they would spend their newfound wealth on.


End file.
